Posts labeled Healthy treats

Soft, chewy, delicious - packed with healthy ingredients and that little bit of sugar which makes them a real treat. Gran Cereale biscuits are a type of breakfast biscuit from Italy. My husband loved them when he was a child and the taste brings up fond memories of summers spent in Italy.


The Italian's have an interesting relationship with breakfast. While the rest of the world is getting more and more inventive with smashed avocado and ways to prepare eggs, in Italy, it's a much simpler - and sweeter - affair. Always coffee, of course, but also biscuits! Yes, you read that correctly. This just tells me that they know how to live la dolce vita every moment of the day. 

I don't want to pretend that these biscuits are super healthy, but on top of being sweet, these Gran Cereale biscuits are packed with healthy ingredients like oats, wholemeal flour, nuts and seeds. They are satisfying to eat and easily adapted. And they are vegan too.

Tips and tricks

The dough is quite crumbly. Add enough water so that it comes together and knead it for a while to get a soft, relatively pliable dough. 

In order to get the nice chewy texture, the biscuits need a good height and size. Don't roll them out too thinly. Aim for a dough thickness of about 4-5mm. For the biscuits pictured above, I used a 6.5cm round cookie cutter.

The tricky part is to get the cooking time just right. The already golden brown colour of the dough makes it hard to tell when they are done. Start with 15 minutes at 160ºC, test with your fingertip. If they are still very soft in the middle, bake 5 more minutes and test again. Depending on the oven I was baking them in, it took anywhere between 15-25 minutes to get a nice even golden brown colour on the biscuits.

Let them cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found years ago on Valentina Solfrini's Hortus Cuisine Blog, which unfortunately is no longer online. 

Healthy Gran Cereale Biscuits

makes 20-22 large biscuits

150 g rolled oats 
120 g wholewheat flour
25 g LSA (ground linseed, sunflower seed and almonds) or ground linseed
25 g ground hemp seeds
50 g ground almonds or nuts
50g brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
80 g vegetable oils (I used 60 g coconut oil, 20 g mild olive oil)
3 heaping tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
water


Preheat the oven to 160ºC. You will need two baking trays lined with baking paper.

Process oats until they turn into a flour. Lightly heat coconut oil and honey to achieve a runny consistency.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl. Mix all wet ingredients except water together in a separate bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mix and use your hands to bring it together. 
Add just enough water to bring the dough together. Start with 1 tablespoon, add small amounts until it's just enough. If you added too much and the dough has become too soft, simply add a little bit more flour.
Turn the dough out on a clean surface and knead for a few minutes to bring the dough together. Shape into a ball, cover with cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Cut in half and cover one half with cling film. 
Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to about 5mm thickness. Cut out the biscuits and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Scrape the dough together, knead into a ball, roll out and cut out biscuits until there is no more dough left. Repeat with the second half.
 
Bake for 8 minutes at 160ºC. Turn the baking trays and bake another 8 minutes. Test the centre with your fingertip. If it is still very soft, bake for another 5 minutes, test again. Repeat until they have an even golden brown colour, but are still slightly soft in the middle.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Variations
  • Hazelnut: Try ground hazelnuts instead of almonds
  • Choc and Coco: Add 2-3 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips and 50g shredded coconut instead of the seeds
  • Different types of wholemeal flours: Replace 20g of the wholewheat flour with other whole flours such as rye or spelt 


Healthy Gran Cereale Biscuits

Soft, chewy, delicious - packed with healthy ingredients and that little bit of sugar which makes them a real treat. Gran Cereale biscu...

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Banana Bread is a fantastic healthy treat that I make on a regular basis. It's the perfect snack with an afternoon coffee as well a good breakfast option when I have only little time in the morning.


Usually, I would make Banana Bread to use discard starter that I collect in a jar in the fridge. I have adapted the recipe for sourdough spelt banana bread from foodbod to create this banana bread recipe. The addition of apple makes it moist and even more delicious.

I have made various additions to this recipe over the last few months, for example added a tablespoon of Tahini or 1/2 cup of roughly chopped walnuts so feel free to experiment.

This recipe can be made with or without sourdough starter. Just replace 50g of flour and 50g of water with 100g of discard or active sourdough starter at 100% hydration.

Banana Bread with Apple

makes 1 small loaf

1 egg
90 ml milk (or 45 ml water, 45 ml milk)
40 g coconut oil
70 g runny honey
2 medium ripe bananas
1 small apple
20 g whole rye flour
200 g all purpose flour
35 g almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt


Preheat the oven to 180ºC top and bottom heat (160ºC fan).

 Coarsely grate the apple, mash the bananas with a fork. 
Mix all wet ingredients (milk, egg, honey, coconut oil) and add the apple and banana to it. If using sourdough starter, add it to the wet ingredients mix as well.
 Mix dry ingredients (flours, almond meal, salt, spices, baking soda and powder) in a large bowl. 
 Combine dry with wet ingredients to form a relatively lose batter. (If experimenting, add in any additions like roughly chopped nuts or swirl through two tablespoons of tahini.)

 Line a 20 x 10 cm loaf tin with baking paper. Pour in the batter and use a spatula to even it out.
Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave it in the tin for 10 minutes before taking it out. Leave to cool before cutting it.

 Enjoy!  

 Pro tip: Cut into slices and freeze for up to 3 months. Directly toast the frozen slices for a quick breakfast.


Banana Bread with Apple

Banana Bread is a fantastic healthy treat that I make on a regular basis. It's the perfect snack with an afternoon coffee as well a good...

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These healthy oat and spelt flour slices are the proof that baking doesn't always have to include a ton of sugar or butter.

In my late 20s I was facing some serious health issues and I had to give up doing sport for a while. With giving up physical activity I also gave up baking, because I was afraid that I would gain too much weight. It made me sad and unhappy.
During this time I met my husband who helped me get back to baking... but in a very different way than one would expect. He had lost a lot of weight with diet change and sport and wanted to keep eating healthily. Calorie dense cakes and pies were simply not an option. He encouraged me to look into healthy alternatives and treats that we could enjoy together. One of my latest tries to make our weekend afternoons that little bit sweeter is my version of an oatmeal bar.


   

I recently ordered a bunch of flour online. Organic flour here in New Zealand is really expensive. I was actually shocked when I saw that a kilo of whole spelt flours costs 13-17 NZD. After a bit of research I found online shops who import it from Europe and sell it a lot cheaper. I know, it travels long ways and this is certainly not as good as bought from your local mill. It seems the best option for me though for now. I kind of got too excited by the price though and ended up buying 5kg of organic whole spelt flour and organic whole rye flour. That's the reason why you might find a lot of recipes including spelt flour and/or rye flour here on my blog in the next few months. Luckily my baking friends at work were happy to take some off of my hands. 



Blueberries and pears can easily be substituted for other berries or fruit in this recipe. I was thinking of trying it out with a cherry coconut filling, just because I really like that combination of flavours. Apple and raisins is another good option for these slices. As soon as summer fruit arrive at the supermarket shelves, I'll make these with peach or apricot filling. My husband finished them off in one weekend. Perhaps he needs to learn about portion control ;).

Healthy oat and spelt slices with blueberries and pear

makes 8 small squares

for the filling
1 pear
1/2 cup frozen blueberries*
1/2 tsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)

for the batter
1/2 cup whole grain oats
1/2 cup whole spelt flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 medium ripe banana
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp coconut oil (melted and cooled) + extra for greasing the cake tin.

topping (optional)
1-2 tbsp roughly chopped roasted almonds
1 tbsp of rolled oats


Preheat the oven to 180°C (upper and lower heat). Grease a 20cm x 10cm (8inch x 4 inch) rectangular cake tin with coconut oil.
Cut the pear into small pieces. In a small saucepan combine the ingredients for the filling and 1-2 tablespoons of water and cook on a low heat until soft. It should have an almost jam like consistency. 
While the filling is cooking, combine flour, oats, salt and the baking powder in a bowl. 
Mash up the banana and mix in a small bowl with the egg, honey and oil until loosely combined. Pour the wet mixture into the flour and oat mixture and stir until combined well.
Pour about 3/4 of the batter into the cake tin and top evenly with the berry and pear filling. Spoon the rest of the batter on top and spread until it covers the filling. 
Sprinkle topping on top if using.
Bake for about 27 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Notes
* You can use only blueberries and no pear or substitute for other types of berries or stone fruit of your choice, e.g. raspberries, cherries, peach,..


Healthy oat and spelt slices with blueberries and pear

These healthy oat and spelt flour slices are the proof that baking doesn't always have to include a ton of sugar or butter. In my lat...

Read more